Paid Parental Leave Super (PPLSC) 2026: When the ATO Pays It and How Much You'll Get

If your child was born or adopted on or after 1 July 2025 and you got Parental Leave Pay from Services Australia, the ATO pays a Paid Parental Leave Superannuation Contribution (PPLSC) into your super fund. It is 12% of the Parental Leave Pay you were paid (the super guarantee rate), plus an interest amount to make up for the wait, paid as one lump sum after the end of the financial year in which you received the pay. The ATO says it will start paying from July 2026 (the 2026-27 financial year), for Parental Leave Pay received in 2025-26 (sources: ATO, Paid Parental Leave Superannuation Contribution; ATO super funds newsroom, 23 June 2026).

You don't claim it. Once your Parental Leave Pay claim is in, the ATO works it out from what Services Australia tells it and pays it automatically. This post covers how the amount is calculated, when to expect it, where it goes, and what to do if it doesn't turn up. For the bigger picture on super during parental leave, including employer-paid leave, see our overview of super on Paid Parental Leave.

You are eligible for a PPLSC for a financial year if Parental Leave Pay for you was paid in that year, either through your employer or directly by Services Australia (Paid Parental Leave Act 2010, s 115B). The super rules apply to payments made on or after 1 July 2025 for a child born or adopted on or after that day (Paid Parental Leave Rules, r 90).

• Both parents get it on their own days. If you share Parental Leave Pay, each of you gets a separate contribution into your own fund, based on your own share (ATO; Services Australia).
• Babies born before 1 July 2025 miss out. There is no super on Parental Leave Pay for an older child, even if some of your days fell after 1 July 2025.
• Dad and Partner Pay no longer exists. It closed to claims on 30 June 2024 and was folded into Parental Leave Pay for children born or adopted from 1 July 2023 (Services Australia). Partners now take their days as Parental Leave Pay, so the reserved partner days attract the PPLSC like any other day.
• Employer-paid parental leave is separate. The PPLSC is only on the government payment. See the employer section below.

The formula is in section 115C of the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 and rule 36 of the Paid Parental Leave Rules 2021:

1. Base contribution: add up all the Parental Leave Pay paid for you in the financial year (before tax, and before any deductions such as child support).
2. Core amount: multiply that by the super guarantee charge percentage for the year, which is 12% for 2025-26 and 2026-27.
3. Interest (the "nominal interest rate amount"): count the days from the first day in that financial year a Parental Leave Pay payment was made for you, up to and including the day the ATO determines your contribution. Divide by 365, multiply by 10%, and round to four decimal places. That multiplier is applied to the core amount.
4. PPLSC = core amount + interest.

The interest is simple interest at 10% a year, set in the rules, not the ATO's general interest charge. The rules' own example: first payment on 1 December 2026, ATO determination on 1 October 2027, 305 elapsed days, multiplier 0.0836. In plain terms, the earlier in the year your leave started, the more interest you get on top of the 12%.

Two points that catch people out. First, the financial year is set by when the Parental Leave Pay was paid, not when the baby arrived. If your leave runs across 30 June, you get two contributions: one for each financial year's payments. Second, the daily rate also depends on the financial year of each day you take, not the birth date: $189.62 a day in 2025-26 and $200.94 a day ($1,004.70 for a 5-day week) in 2026-27 (Services Australia).

Priya's baby is born in late December 2025. She takes 105 days of Parental Leave Pay starting Monday 5 January 2026, and her partner takes the 15 reserved days in February. All of Priya's days fall in 2025-26, so they are paid at $189.62 a day, and her last payment lands before 30 June 2026.

Figures are rounded to the cent at each step. The ATO calculates on unrounded figures, so the final amount can differ by a cent. The payment and determination dates are our assumptions to show the arithmetic; the ATO has not published a fixed date for making determinations. The legal deadline runs from the determination: the ATO must pay within 60 days of deciding which fund the money goes to (Rules, r 40). A later determination means more elapsed days and slightly more interest.

For a child born or adopted from 1 July 2026 the family gets 130 days (26 weeks for a 5-day week), with 20 days reserved for a partner (Services Australia). Across all 130 days at $200.94, the government pays $26,122.20 in Parental Leave Pay, and the 12% core super on that is $3,134.66 before interest.

Say Tom's baby is born on 1 August 2026. Tom's partner takes 110 days from Monday 3 August 2026, first paid on 18 August 2026, all inside 2026-27:

• Parental Leave Pay: 110 × $200.94 = $22,103.40
• 12% core amount: $2,652.41
• If the ATO determines it on 15 September 2027 (assumed): 394 elapsed days, multiplier 0.1079, interest $286.19
• PPLSC: about $2,938.60, paid into the fund in the 2027-28 financial year

Tom takes the 20 reserved days in December 2026: 20 × $200.94 = $4,018.80, so 12% is $482.26, plus interest of about $36 if first paid mid-December and determined in mid-September 2027.

So yes: for a 2026-27 baby, nothing reaches your fund until after 30 June 2027. Your super statement during leave will show no contributions for these weeks. That's expected. Run your own numbers with the parental leave calculator, which shows the 12% super on Parental Leave Pay (before interest).

• After the financial year ends. The ATO pays once a year, after 30 June, for Parental Leave Pay paid in the year just finished. The ATO said it would start paying contributions for 2025-26 from July 2026 (2026-27) (ATO).
• The ATO tells you. When it pays, the ATO must send you a written notice saying when it paid, which fund it paid, the amount, and how to ask for a review (Act, s 115J).
• Your fund will show it as an ATO contribution. Funds receive it as a super guarantee-type contribution with the ATO's ABN in the employer field (ATO super funds newsroom), so on your statement it may look like an employer contribution from the ATO rather than a "parental leave" line.
• Check it in myGov. In ATO online services, go to Super, then Information, to see contributions reported for you, including concessional contributions (ATO).

In most cases the ATO pays it to the fund your super contributions are currently going to (ATO). The rules set the order (Rules, r 38):

1. an account you have nominated to the ATO for the PPLSC;
2. if you have only one eligible account that received a PPLSC this year or last year, that account;
3. otherwise, the account that received the most personal or concessional contributions in the latest year the ATO has fund data for, then the most recently opened account, then the one with the highest balance;
4. if you have no eligible account, the ATO holds it for you in the Superannuation Holding Accounts Special Account, but not before two years have passed since your first Parental Leave Pay payment that year (r 39).

If a fund can't credit the money to your account within 28 days, it must send it back to the ATO (Act, s 115G), which then redirects it. Accounts already paying a pension, or that have told the ATO they won't accept government contributions, aren't eligible.

• Taxed like employer super. The PPLSC is a concessional contribution, taxed at 15% in your fund (ATO).
• Give your fund your TFN. If your fund doesn't have your tax file number, extra tax can apply to the contribution (ATO).
• It counts toward your concessional cap. The cap is $32,500 from 1 July 2026 (ATO). For most parents on leave this isn't an issue, because employer super drops while you're off work. If you salary sacrifice heavily, allow for the PPLSC in the year your fund receives it. The ATO will tell you if you go over.
• Not income for Centrelink. The PPLSC isn't counted as income for social security, family assistance or child support (ATO).

1. Check the timing first. If your Parental Leave Pay was paid in 2026-27, nothing is due until after 30 June 2027. If it was paid in 2025-26, the ATO said it would start paying from July 2026, and the legal deadline runs 60 days from when the ATO decides where to send it, so allow some time.
2. Look in myGov (ATO online services, then Super, then Information) and check your fund's transaction list for an ATO-sourced contribution.
3. Make your details match. Your name and address need to match across Services Australia, the ATO and your super fund, and your fund needs your TFN. If you've changed your name, update it with both the ATO and Services Australia (ATO).
4. Check the Parental Leave Pay figure. The PPLSC is worked out on what Services Australia reports as paid. If Services Australia adjusts your Parental Leave Pay, the ATO may amend your PPLSC.
5. Ask for a review. If the amount looks wrong, the ATO's payment notice tells you how to seek a review of its decision (Act, s 115J and s 115ZF). Where the ATO finds it underpaid, it must pay the shortfall (s 115K).
6. Don't chase your employer. Your employer passes on Parental Leave Pay but has nothing to do with the PPLSC.

Nothing changes in how you pay Parental Leave Pay. You don't calculate or pay the PPLSC; the ATO pays it straight to your employee's fund after the year ends (ATO; Services Australia). You don't have to pay super on Parental Leave Pay you pass on, although you can choose to make extra contributions.

Employer-funded parental leave is a different question. If your enterprise agreement, contract or policy gives paid parental leave, super on that pay depends on whether it counts as ordinary time earnings and on what the instrument says. The PPLSC doesn't replace it. Our guide to processing Paid Parental Leave in payroll covers the mechanics, and the employer parental leave cost calculator estimates what a top-up policy costs.

Is the PPLSC exactly 12%?
The core amount is 12% of your Parental Leave Pay, and interest is added on top. The interest is 10% a year, counted from your first payment in the financial year to the date the ATO works out your contribution. In practice that adds roughly 5–11% on top of the 12% amount (about 0.6–1.3 percentage points of your Parental Leave Pay).

Do I need to apply?
No. Claim Parental Leave Pay through Services Australia as usual and the ATO pays the super automatically.

My leave started in May 2026 and ended in September 2026. How many payments will I get?
Two. One for the Parental Leave Pay paid in 2025-26 (the ATO said it would start paying these from July 2026) and one for the pay received in 2026-27 (paid after 30 June 2027).

Does my partner get super on their days?
Yes, if the child was born or adopted from 1 July 2025. Each parent's contribution goes to their own fund, based on their own Parental Leave Pay.

I'm self-employed. Do I get it?
If you received Parental Leave Pay from Services Australia, yes. The PPLSC follows the government payment, not an employer.

Can I choose which fund it goes to?
The rules let you nominate an eligible account to the ATO for the PPLSC. If you don't, it generally goes to the fund your contributions are currently paid into.